The present invention relates to a brow pad for the headband of a protective helmet or similar headgear.
Protective helmets are commonly worn in the industrial workplace to prevent or reduce the likelihood of head injuries. The hard hat is the most common and well-recognized protective helmet. A hard hat consists of three primary components—a shell, a headband, and a suspension system—which cooperate to reduce the potential for injury by attenuating some translational energy of the force of an impact to the helmet.
With respect to the construction and protection afforded by a hard hat, the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) promulgates minimum performance requirements for protective helmets and further classifies helmets based on their ability to reduce the forces of impact and penetration, as well as their ability to protect against high voltage electric shock. See, for example, ANSI Z89.1-1997 (R1998), American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection.
As mentioned above, a hard hat or similar protective helmet is comprised primarily of: a shell, a headband, and a suspension system. These primary hard hat components cooperate to provide the requisite level of protection. The hard hat shell itself causes any force of impact to be spread across the surface area of the shell. The hard hat suspension separates the wearer's head from the shell such that there is an air gap between the shell and the wearer's head that provides for further attenuation of the force of an impact to the shell. Specifically, when an object strikes the shell of the hard hat, the shell itself flexes inward and the straps of the suspension system will stretch. The air gap accommodates the flexing of the shell and stretching of the straps, but, under normal conditions, prevents the wearer's head from contacting the hard hat shell.
Of course, for a hard hat to provide the appropriate level of protection, it must fit snugly on the wearer's head. In this regard, it is common for the headband of a hard hat to be adjustable to provide for such a snug fit. In this regard, a headband typically has one of two common sizing mechanisms, a pin-lock arrangement or a ratchet mechanism. Regardless of the chosen sizing mechanism, the headband is commonly a flexible, one-piece member that has overlapping rear end portions. With a pin-lock mechanism, a first of the rear end portions of the headband is provided with a pin, and the second of the rear end portions is provided with series of holes at spaced intervals. As such, the pin of the first rear end portion can be inserted through one of the holes of the second rear end portion, thus forming a loop of a selected circumference to fit snugly around the wearer's head. With a ratchet mechanism, lateral movement of the overlapping rear end portions of the headband is effectuated through a rack and pinion arrangement or similar gear arrangement.
As one example of a ratchet mechanism, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,831 issued to Oleson, a patent that is incorporated herein by this reference. As described in the '831 patent, a preferred ratchet mechanism is often a rack and pinion arrangement which operates within elongated overlapping slots defined by the rear end portions of the headband, each of said slots defining a series of teeth of a rack gear. The rack and pinion arrangement and the overlapping rear end portions of the headband are housed between a pair of adjoining arc-shaped housing sections which generally conform to the contour of the wearer's head. The rear end portions of the headband are seated for slidable, lateral movement within the arc-shaped housing sections.
For another example of a rack and pinion arrangement, reference is made to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/899,467, which is also incorporated herein by reference. Again, the rack and pinion arrangement and the overlapping rear end portions of the headband are housed between a pair of adjoining arc-shaped housing sections which generally conform to the contour of the wearer's head. The rear end portions of the headband are seated for slidable, lateral movement within the arc-shaped housing sections. Furthermore, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/899,467, the arc-shaped housing sections have an inherent flexibility that provides for better fit of the headband and increased comfort to the wearer.
In any event, the focus of the present invention is on the brow pad, which is commonly secured to a front portion of the headband so that it contacts the wearer's forehead, providing increased comfort to the wearer and also serving to absorb perspiration. In securing the brow pad to the headband, a common technique is to provide the headband with integral tabs or cleats which are then inserted into corresponding holes through the brow pad. However, as the brow pad becomes worn, it may stretch or tear, and thus, become disengaged from the headband. Another common technique is to sew the brow pad directly to the headband. However, removing such a brow pad from the headband may prove difficult, if not impossible. Specifically, if an attempt is made to tear the brow pad from the headband, some of the brow pad fabric will undoubtedly remain, and furthermore, damage to the headband itself may result.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a brow pad for the headband of protective headgear that is secured to the headband in a manner that ensures that it will remain secured to the headband even after extensive usage, but still allows for removal and replacement of the brow pad if desired.
It would also be desirable to provide a brow pad for the headband of protective headgear that assists not only in absorbing perspiration, but also to draw perspiration and moisture away from the forehead of the wearer.